6601

sluggo

The Packers had one of the all-time best regular seasons anyone’s ever had in the NFL. They toyed with teams most of the year, barely trailed in games, their QB had a season for the ages, and with one exception, they steamrolled everyone they played. Meanwhile, the Giants, who suffered a lot of injuries, also didn’t bother showing up some weeks. There were definitely concerns with the GB defense, but any football fan with half a brain understood that the 15-1 Packers were a vastly superior and more talented team than the 9-7 Giants.

This is what I was reacting to sluggo, and I’m quoting what you said. The Packers were not ‘vastly superior’ when it counted. They were in fact ‘vastly inferior’.

Yes, it’s silly to go down the “I always knew” road, I agree with you there, but that’s not what I was responding to.

6602

You haven’t answered my question, Lorini. Before yesterday’s game, did you think the Packers should be underdogs to the Giants?

6603

I picked the Packers with my private pool between my brother and I, so no, I can’t say that I expected the Packers to lose. Although I will say that them losing is not as surprising to me as the Saints loss. I just didn’t think Alex Smith could keep up, but we’ve discussed throughout the whole season how the Packers D stank and it could lead to trouble.

6604

I think footaball fans know there are two seasons: regular and post.

What a team does during the regular season can be taken as a hint as to what to expect from them in the post season, but it’s not set in stone. That’s why they play the game, as the saying goes.

In the divisional picks thread a bunch of people picked the 49ers and Giants. So, sorry to say to Saint and Packer fans, no, not everyone thought your teams’ awesome regular season meant jack shiat in the playoffs.

Personally, I picked the Packers but that was before I heard about the coach’s son dying. That put a crimp into what I thought the main Packer advantage would be, but once you make your pick you have to stick with it.

6605

I know a lot of fans of teams have waited longer - some forever and counting - but man that was satisfying to watch. Alex Smith’s heroics were simply mind-blowing. Usually in the playoffs you see a team/QB’s known limits, apparently Alex’ are not yet known.

I read an online article Saturday night that had a line:

“All Alex Smith and the 49ers did was beat the most prolific offense in NFL history.”

Gave me chills!

6606

End score of the Giants-Packers game:

Giants: 37
Refs: 14
Packers: 6

Was a serious beatdown. Giants are the Packers of last year.

6607

Sounds about right.

6608

Is it really that controversial to think that the Packers were overrated during the regular season? I mean, I think it’s a controversial opinion, just not a call-everyone-retarded-and-insinuate-that-nobody-else-even-watches-football controversial. It’s silly to dismiss their close losses, even if they did play with a lead the entire way; that’s not “toying” with your opponents, that’s relying on your offense to keep you in the game. Was it the best offense in the league over the regular season? Absolutely. Were they the best team in the league over the regular season? Maybe, but only if you think the word “best” means anything in the regular season.

sluggo might not think so, but the rest of us are indeed watching football. We saw Randall Cobb have a fluke of a kickoff return the Saints, a total shootout against the Chargers, the Panthers staying competitive throughout most the game despite four turnovers, Minnesota giving them fits for two quarters, and the Giants having an awful call against them. I also saw them play a bunch of crappy offenses that didn’t stand a chance against them, like Denver, Chicago (late-season) and Oakland, and one that did - Kansas City.

I don’t say any of this to take away from the Packers, just to point out that I don’t think someone calling them overrated warrants blowing up like sluggo did.

6609

Well, Gregg Williams is getting the hell out of dodge. Just accepted the DC job in Saint Louis. Not surprising, as there was word Jeff Fisher wanted his buddy Gregg Williams, and Williams is from Missouri.

6610

Well I do think that people acting like the Packers didn’t realize they needed to up their game in the playoffs is a bit much. They are the defending champs after all. And we really won’t know how to view this Packer loss until we see what the Giants do next. If they end up in the Superbowl by beating the 49ers then its going to be hard not to just wonder if was another magical year for them, just like in 2007.

6611

As a Rams fan I’m not sure what to think about this. The Saints defense wasn’t all that great.

Fisher is also talking to Brian Schottenheimer about the OC position. I don’t find that particularly thrilling either. Sanchez hasn’t developed well under him.

In other news Mike Martz told the NFL network he’s retiring from coaching. He’s 60. That seems like a good time to sit back and get out of the grind.

6612

I’m with Hammet there. Sluggo was just annoyed that robsam started proclaiming the Packers sucked or something. I don’t know, but then robsam is Mr. SEC Defense Wins Championships guy too. The offense for Green Bay was off and out of sync so while they may not have won the game should’ve been a lot closer if the Packers were in midseason form. I thought the defense was being a bit lazy during the season but I thought they would’ve come alive in the postseason. I guess not. When you ignore a key aspect of your team that long, it’s bound to come bite you in the ass.

I don’t think dynasties are vilified, it’s how they’re constructed. The Yankees just buy every free agent they can. The Lakers and Celtics again get all the big name guys to come to them. They just spend to win while other teams have depend on drafting guys and making smart moves instead of just overpaying the big name guy at the time. I don’t know how the Patriots are viewed but I certainly don’t vilified them. They built their team up with Brady and through the draft. They get castoffs from other teams and make it work for them.

6613

The Packers frankly looked like the Colts do every year (except for the championship year). Unbelievable passing offense with a running game and defense that loses them playoff games. As a Colts (or rather Peyton Manning) fan, I saw this coming. I just didn’t expect it to be so bad. The NFC Championship game looks like the real Super Bowl frankly. Can’t wait.

6614

I don’t think it’s weird that people are suggesting now the Packers may have been overrated. But I don’t recall a lot of people suggesting that before kickoff yesterday. Am I wrong? Was there some groundswell of people saying the Giants should have been the favorites in that game?

If someone had been saying all week, “I think the Packers are overrated and the Giants are actually a better team,” I think a lot of people would have been skeptical at best. But to show up in the middle of a 10-10 game and announce “oh, I always thought the Giants were better” is just bullshit.

6615

Yeah, I can’t say I am too worried about either of those coaches coming into the NFC West. Williams seems to run a scheme that requires exceptional talent on defense to make it work, something that the Rams certainly do not have as of yet anyway. And if the defense isn’t outstanding, who thinks Schottenheimer’s offensive playcalling will compensate?

Hopefully Fisher’s presence will be the key ingredient.

6616

There was but I don’t think it was overwhelming. A lot of it is leveled at the defense IMO. It probably started after the Chiefs game, because that game kind of hinted that if Rodgers doesn’t have at least a very good day, the rest of the team can’t compensate for any significant stretch - at least to some people. I am still of the opinion that it’s fucking hard to go 16-0 and the longer you go without losing, the tighter you play. There was some brief shit about how Rodgers isn’t even that great because look what Flynn did! That was retarded.

Add to that the buzz that had already been building regarding the Giants’ defensive front and how their ground game was finally gaining some traction and I dunno, Eli Manning thrives under pressure or whatever. I do know a lot of TV and radio analysts have been saying for awhile now that the Niners had the best chance of knocking off the Packers, a really good chance in fact, and maybe the resurgence of the pass rush and ground game of the Giants had some people thinking the same might be true for New York.

Yeah that’s just hindsight “Tolja so! (even though I didn’t)” stuff. The Packers were guilty of taking their foot off the gas at the end of the regular season, which I just don’t agree with despite the brutal nature of football, since the other nature of football is intensity.

6617

I’m just glad Fisher went to a team that I don’t care about rather than I team I like.

6618

What is Hue Jackson hoping to accomplish with this? Is his rep so bad that he figures he has no chance at another job or something? He would seemingly be of interest to someone as an offensive coordinator, I would think. But not if he can’t take the high road.

6619

During the Patriots 07 run, you could just see the team wearing down under the pressure as the season progressed. They barely beat the Ravens, Brady threw three picks against the Chargers. We still had a defense that year so they were able to contribute. Yet Brady did what he had to do in the Superbowl and drove for the winning score, but then Manning and that cosmically inexplicable helmet catch against Rodney and there it went, football immortality. I don’t think any of us can gauge the kind of pressure professional athletes feel.

Green Bay’s defense didn’t lose that game, aside from letting that Hail Mary completion at the end of the half. The Giant’s had scored thirteen points to that point. For whatever reason Rodgers and the offense played scared. They were tight, Rodgers missed (for him) easy throws. Rust? Nerves? Last year they were a wild card and taken lightly, this year they were the prohibitive favorites to repeat.

They’re human, and like all of us fallible. I think they succumbed to the pressure. That’s what makes athletes like Michael Jordan, Woods in his prime, or Montana and Rice unique: They never cracked under the pressure.

Lastly, our culture tends to root for the underdog, then when they reach the pinnacle they want to knock them off. I’m not a socialogist, though, so I can’t pretend to understand that phenomena. Back in the day when I was a kid rooting for the Vikings, I grew to hate the Cowboys. And to this day, I still do lol. Oddly I never felt that way about the Steelers, or even the 49ers in their heyday, even though it was infuriating watching them play, they were just so damn good …

6620

You called me “fucking dense” and an “idiot” before we got to that point of the the thread, please don’t puss out and act like a victim.

Fact is you were wrong and you didn’t like it being brought to your attention, even in a joking manner. I assumed you were either a jackass, which surprised me because I hadn’t seen that type of behavior from you before, or you were drinking some hard liquor and felt like being an asshole on the internet instead of kicking your cat. I hope you have sobered up now, emotionally or physically.

You were a name calling asshole last night, man up and admit it. I’ve done it on these very boards when I went over the top.

Also, it wasn’t that big of a stretch to pick the Giants last night, not sure why you think it was such an amazing upset. Talking heads all over the internet/tv channels were picking the Giants. Vegas loses sometimes, and they fucked up bad on this one. I hope the bookies lost their asses.